A mother crying over the death of her child – photographer can share emotional story with the grieving mother and reader.

Age newspaper and the Internet advertise jobs for Evan as an employed or freelance photo-journalist. Editors often ask authors to caption i.e. put name of person in photograph and the reader will read the caption in text and photograph.

This helps when a consumer walks into a bookshop, picks up a book and decides which book he/she will buy.

Captions are very important for writers editors and consumers.

Taking photos are important because they force you to see things differently and expand your mind and imagination and therefore improve clarity. Photographs evoke memories, atmosphere and emotion and improve your text as a writer Evan.

Evan will find better jobs as a writer if he can also be a photographer.

Guest Speaker: David Metzenthen

Writing for young readers

Writing is about stories which mean something to you.

Do not ever think that your ideas are unimportant.

Evan does not want to be compared with another writer. Try to be unique. Writing is not about proving how smart you are. Write about how you feel, think, relate to others, emotions, depth, relationships with others.

Evan has to set his heights high. Do not even start a project unless you believe in it. Come back to your original idea and have a go with it.

Start with a book with some idea as to where the destination is.

Come back to Evan’s world. What are you interest in? Try not being boring.

If you find one person who understands what you are doing e.g. an editor or a friend then you are lucky! Writing is about thinking. Be conscious about delivering the best stories you can.

A polite phone call can help Evan get through to the publishers.

4000 unsolicited manuscripts are sent to penguin Publishers each year. Only 10 are published per year. But Evan remember Penguin is always looking for new writers.

People working at Penguin are overworked and underpaid – remember the difficulty for them Evan.

Perfect writing career in Australia at present – Tim Winton, he does the story which he thinks he will do well.

Evan try to get that catch or voice to write a story – Evan you must have the correct feeling to write a story.

Evan’s unsolicited manuscript means that he has not shown and put his writing through an official or recognised accredited literary agent.

Evan the language in your writing has to be clear and easily understandable.

Do not speak or write in slang.

Simple communication is very effective.

Do not try to impress others too much – be natural.

Have another career when writing this is a good contrast.

You must have confidence and keep on re-writing.

Editors are pushed for time and are under pressure.

At Penguin in Melbourne the Editors are willing to read Evan’s unsolicited manuscripts.

Do not lose your perseverance. These are new writers getting published every day. It is possible to write full time in Australia.